a lot of people say, just do well in iowa. i say, i can't do that. i really want to win. >> i gathered here, literally millions of americans are counting on me. >> i think it's dangerous to vote for anybody else. ted cruz, donald trump. >> trump is doing what politicians do. politicians do what is politically expedient. >> we feel good about our campaign. we know it's an uphill climb but we're working hard. >> i've had a lot of experience in looking and learning about what it takes to get things done in washington. >> you are asking the people of iowa here to start you off on nothing short of a political revolution. >> it's all right! >> good day.

i'm brian williams. msnbc headquarters here in new york. well, today is the day and tonight is the night. the first in the nation caucus. our first time to measure the voter response in this presidential election cycle of 2016. as you might have seen there and thanks to andrea mitchell, by the way, for a dandy hour of coverage leading into us, as you might have seen there, everyone right about now starts to look exhausted. the candidates, the folks who work for them, the media who are covering them, and let's not forget the voters of iowa who have been bombbombarded. we have the entire state covered. our correspondents and camera crews are out. we want to begin with a trump event. waterloo, iowa, and kerry sanders, kerry, i mentioned the voters of iowa. there is a fair amount of caucus fatigue. if you live in iowa, you've probably been contacted by no fewer than six people offering you a ride to the caucus.

you can't escape the television ads. the leaflets. any signs of caucus fatigue as in, let's get this thing going? >> well, let's put it this way. i've been now covering donald trump throughout iowa. i followed him through new hampshire. i have been with him in south carolina. i have never seen a speech like he gave today. dare i say, it was low energy. it was so unusual to see donald trump walk into a facility here, an auditorium that was not full with standing room only. as a matter of fact, as you take a look at some of the video we took just moments ago, you can see that oddly, there were even empty seats. and i think that maybe the cavernous nature of all of this kind of led to a lower energy speech from donald trump which, again, caught us all off guard. this was really suggested that it was going to be a pep rally and at the end of the day, it was a normal speech, a political speech by donald trump. when he spoke, he did make a

point through speaking to the crowd that was here. remember, it's a monday. so people are at work. maybe that's why there's fewer people here, and also, it's foggy outside. we have a weather event that's beginning to come in, so some people may have decided not to get on the road. included in the crowd here were farmers and retired farmers. to those, donald trump spoke directly. >> he will destroy your ethanol business 100%. 100%. and i'm not really blaming him because he's financed by oil people and the oil people don't want ethanol. it is very simple. especially now with the prices going down, the last thing they need is more competition. so the oil people are funding him, and they don't want ethanol. your ethanol business, if ted cruz gets in, will be wiped out within six months to a year. it's going to gone. it's going to be gone. >> reporter: this is not the first time we've heard donald trump take on ted cruz about funding and support for ethanol,

b a big money-maker in the state. he would have never guessed the ethanol production would actually result in larger crop yields, but indeed, that's what he said has happened as a result of this. it's a controversial program. some scientists suggested it takes more energy to produce than it actually gives in the tank of a car, but bottom line, to the crowd here, this is what they wanted to hear. at the end of the day now, as we head to the caucus, i think the real question is whether people will go out, because we didn't see a lot of people here, whether they will go out in the weather tonight in the cold, in what we think will be snow and make their way to a caucus site and for many people, do what they have not done before. participate in this program, this process called caucusing, that to many, at least to many trump supporters, is something new and a little bit foreign to them. >> kerry sanders in waterloo, iowa, and kerrkerri, we'll be talking about the weather tonight. as it often is in iowa. all of this brings us to senior

policy advisor to the trump campaign and to donald trump, and sam, i watched this speech. it was lower energy than we've become used to for donald trump. there were more empty seats than we've become used to, at a trump event. kerry correctly points out, it's monday. people are working. it's foggy. there is a certain amount of caucus exhaustion where we can finally look forward to getting some votes on paper tonight. do you think you have enough of a cushion there to predict victory despite the aforementioned caucus exhaustion and some weather moving in this evening? >> thanks for having me on, brian. i don't know about cushion or anything, but i do know that we are doing everything we can to get the people turned out to vote. to get them out to the caucuses, as you know, this process is very simple. we meet in neighborhoods. we're going to be sitting with our neighbors.

we have the chance to talk to our neighbors and this is a process that we have. and i think that if people stand for five hours in subzero temperatures to see donald trump, i think they'll spend an hour on a monday evening to go to a caucus and cast a vote, write a name on a piece of paper. i think it will happen and we'll have a good night. >> other campaigns have bragged about their ground game. the trump campaign has been more secretive about the ground game. at long last, progra perhaps yo tell us what's the secret to the trump ground game. >> well, i think the fact we've kept it a secret is the secret. a lot of people have stereotypes of mr. trump and stereotypes of the campaign. we've been glad to play on that. we've been very happy to have people keep those stereotypes an d reinforce the stereotypes but we fill the databases, make the phone calls.

i sat down for eight hours and made phone calls to caucus goers. this is all part of the process. so when we get down to this time before caucus, every campaign is doing the same. we're out trying to make the final contacts. get the caucus speakers. we do all the things that are necessary to get people out to vote for us tonight and i think, again, i'll predict we'll have a good night. >> sam, you're a very proud iowan. always have been. you get to live in a beautiful state. what do you think the media get wrong about your beloved home state? >> i think really, a lot of times, they categorize us in a lot of ways i think are unfair. they think everybody is a farmer. we're not all farmers. they think everybody is an evangelical. there are a great number of evangelicals, i'm one. but the rest of the state is a very diverse state in many ways. so those are the aspects i think a lot of times and they have a stereotypical view of us as well

and they have a template how to campaign in iowa. and i think mr. trump has done everything to believe to get rid of the template because this isn't anything like i've seen and i've been following politics since i was 7 years old. and i'm 66. so that's a long time. so i've never seen anything like it. never been a part of anything like it. >> a man with a lot on the line tonight as we head into caucusing. sam clovis, thank you very much for joining us from election headquarters this afternoon, i guess we are, on caucus day. i appreciate it. over to the clinton campaign we go. nbc's kristen welker following hillary clinton. what side of events are we on? anything on her schedule? >> nothing except for the event tonight that she will hold, her headquarters to either give, we are told, two speeches. a celebration speech or she will of course, say that she's disappointed by the fact she

hasn't won but i've been talking to campaign officials. they say they feel good heading into today. she did stop to thank some of her supporters and organizers. and they're feeling good. they like the polling heading into tonight. they know this is neck and neck. they know it's going to be close. but they think they have built up the more substantial ground game. it's built in part off of then senator barack obama's ground game. and secretary clinton has run a very different race here than she ran back in 2008 when she came in third here, brian. this was the state where she made her first stop, so she has focused a lot of attention on iowa. at the same time, campaign officials say we felt good heading into caucus day in 2008. that's making supporters feel jittery at the same time. earlier today, by the way, she was blanketing the air waves. she spoke to our "today show "and talked about the tone of the campaigns saying democrats had become more negative.

here's what she had to say. >> i think it's fair to say, he has to run his campaign. he has to present his views. we have differences. and i've been pointing out those differences. i think that it's important for me to tell voters what i want to achieve and how i will go about doing that, because i want them to hold me accountable. >> reporter: let's get reminded of the polls. a quinnipiac poll came out showing senator sanders in the lead. the numbers, 49% to 46% but yesterday, secretary clinton in the lead. 45% to 42%. the quinnipiac poll, it's been quite successful at predicting these races. but the wild card here, the younger voters who tend to favor senator sanders if they turn out in force. they could hand him a victory. at this point, it's just a wait and see. brian? >> we should point out, it's all a statistical dead heat.

because pretty much of all it falls within the margin of error on polling. >> indeed. >> it could come down to snow flurries. kristen welker in des moines. thank you very much. we move on now to the essential law firm of halpern, the two men you call in trouble. two men of hosts of "all due respect" 6:00 p.m. eastern during normal times. mark and john, i am calling for last minute predictions and prognostications. >> brian, as you know, the rule of iowa caucus politics is organize, organize, organize, get hot at the end. that's how you win. the four people competing for first, all were organized. more or less. clinton is clearly organized. so is sanders and cruz. the remaining question about donald trump and whether he's organized. i believe he is. the question is, who's hot at the end? i think you've seen the last couple of day, kerry sanders referenced this. mr. trump changed the style of

his events. much more low key. is he hot at the end that day? senator cruz was hit hard by trump and others. he's not necessarily finishing strong. sanders has been hot the entire time, and i think it's an open question of whether secretary clinton has finished hot. so organize, organize, organize has happened and the question is, who will voters look at as the hot candidate? >> all right, john? >> yeah. brian, i think, look. there's a big question as to who turns out tonight. two of the candidates, donald trump and bernie sanders are both relying for the scenarios under which they would win count on a lot of first time caucus goers tonight that relates partly to mark's organization question but also relates to enthusiasm. and it's been clear throughout the last few months that both donald trump and bernie sanders have generated a huge amount of organic enthusiasm on the ground. their crowds have been much bigger, consistently over the months than their rivals. hillary clinton's or ted cruz's. now as you point out, it's the hardest thing to do in iowa

politics to get people who never caucused before to come out. that's where the organization comes in and where things like weather come in and where things like expectations come in. do people in the trump world think among trump supporters because trump has been ahead in the last polls that their vote is less essential and they may then stay home? do the young voters who sanders is relying on just decide that they have better things to do? they want to stay home and play nintendo in their college dorm rooms than come to the caucus? we don't know the answers to that question. but if you have the kind of turnout that many iowan professionals are predicting for tonight, big, big democratic turnout and big republican turnout. that will be good, good news for donald trump and bernie sanders. >> explain to the viewers as best you can in lay terms while marn martin o'malley polling 3% or 4% could be a player tonight as democrats gather in people's homes and civic centers across

iowa? >> well, there's so many things about the caucus process, if you don't live in iowa or cover the caucuses, you could not imagine this is the way the voting actually works, but people gather on the democratic side, you literally stand up in public. one side of the room or the other. one corner of the room or other and say this is the group i'm supporting or the candidate i'm supporting. in some places, if martin o'malley doesn't have sufficient support in his round of voting, they could say we're not going to be for anybody or lured over to the clinton side or the sanders side. and because martin o'malley's support is so low, that will happen in a lot of places and the difference between winning and losing for clinton or sanders if their contest is close might be who could convince their neighbors in the room in realtime who come in the room supporting o'malley and come to the clinton side, come to the sanders side. i will say, his support is so low around the state that it may not make a difference. it would have to be an

exceedingly close race for his supporters to make a difference because there aren't many of them. >> one of the things that's true is so far in the polling, it seemed, again, as mark said, 100% right. it's a small number of people who support marnlt tin o'malley. it seems like they were split between bernie sanders and hillary clinton. in bernie sanders' world, people have been focused and believe sanders has a distinct advantage in that area and if it does matter, where the o'malley voters go, sanders think they have upper hand to get 3-1 advantage. we don't know if that will be true. it's about the dynamics in the room, but also, i will say both sides are focused on it. but the sanders people have been intensely focused on this for some time. >> either of you, do campaigns end tonight and if so, how many?

>> huckabee and santorum probably do. and o'malley, maybe. i don't think anybody else ends tonight. >> halpern and hepeil. thank you for being with us on the trail. we will take a break here. our live coverage of caucus day in iowa continues on the other side. >> i've been in iowa now for a long time with many, many trips here and gotten to know many people. the evangelicals have been unbelievable to donald trump. they have been unbelievable. boy, do they understand me. they understand me better than anybody.

at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like bill splitting equals nitpicking. but i only had a salad. it was a buffalo chicken salad. salad. text mom. i'll be right back. be good. boys have been really good today. send. let's get mark his own cell phone. nice. send. brad could use a new bike. send. [siri:] message. you decide. they're your kids.

why are you guys texting grandma? it was him. it was him. keep your family connected. app-connect. on the newly redesigned passat. from volkswagen. what's that, broheim? i switched to geico and got more. more savings on car insurance? yeah bro-fessor, and more. like renters insurance. more ways to save. nice, bro-tato chip. that's not all, bro-tein shake. geico has motorcycle and rv insurance, too. oh, that's a lot more. oh yeah, i'm all about more, teddy brosevelt. geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more.

what do you make of all of it? >> look, this is a group i think that's probably misunderstood inside the republican party. it's not a monolithic group. there are a lot of different issues that animate evangelical voters. and when you look at trump's candidacy, he's not somebody you traditionally identify as an evangelical conservative and issues on the economy and national security, trump is resonating with this. with this group of people in this state.

and his message, brian, make america great again. it's a powerful message for a republican electorate. republicans believe that barack obama has fundamentally succeeded in his mission of change. and that the result of that range is he's wrecked the country and done it with a complicit collaboration as republican establishment in washington, dc. so donald trump comes in to this race as a disrupter and the voters respond to it, not just in iowa but in new hampshire and the depth and breadth of the country in these early states with a substantial lead. >> this is a point you've made throughout. we talk about voter angle. anger, rather. just every election cycle these days, this time, it's different. and as you've been pointing out, republicans themselves are so angry and so disappointed in the kind of classic party structure

in washington. >> you've had two wave elections that have favored republicans. 2010, 2014. big promises made. almost none of them delivered. so now they're looking for somebody outside of the system. i think that we've had these elections, whether it be democrats winning, republicans winning. nothing in the country's changed. whether you look at systemic failure at the v.a., you look at the residue of the great recession, the fact that a lot of middle-income americans have never really recovered. you see donald trump and bernie sanders united on a message talking about the corrupting influence of money and politics. and the american voters just had enough of the failed political establishment in washington, dc. it's been coming for a long time. there's a billboard in lower manhattan that said the french aristocracy never saw it either

and we're on the verge of that tonight. >> happy to say they'll be with us and what could be a long one. steve, thank you very much for joining us from our campaign headquarters in des moines. another break. our coverage continues right after this. in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in the hudson valley, with world class biotech. and on long island, where great universities are creating next generation technologies. let us help grow your company's tomorrow, today at business.ny.gov ugh! heartburn! no one burns on my watch! try alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. they work fast and don't taste chalky. mmm...amazing. i have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief.

♪

everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. a vote for marco rubio is for amnesty and for donald trump is for obamacare. >> that's a point senator cruz has made since the last debate and onward. his late success made him a very big target in this race. a national spokesman for the effort. let's take our favorite western

iowa county, sioux county, among the most conservative, perhaps the most politically conservative in the state of iowa. the cruz ground game has rightfully received a lot of attention. how are you going to do in sioux county iowa tonight? >> i think we're going to do well. and of course, we've been endorsed by congressman steve king and he's well known, obviously, in that county and i think conservatives come together and a first time they have a chance to vote for someone who can win. ted cruz, raised $50 million in his campaign and $19 million cash on hand. the last report, more than bush, rubio, kasich, and christie combined. no one has come out of iowa with zero dollars and went on to become the nominee. the ground game and iowa can really help us here with the win.

>> would you regard any of the attacks as unfair or as a veteran yourself of these things do, you look back at it as all's fair in love and war in the iowa caucus. >> we don't worry about it too much. senator cruz rolls off the back and none of the attacks have been serious. i think voters here are smart enough to recognize what's really and what's not. he went to washington, dc and said what he's going to do and trusted him to do what he said he was going to do. we said it from the beginning, that's been our strategy. get the evangelicals, the tea partiers and the libertarian vote together to beat the establishment. and now the establishment is competing against itself in new hampshire, so that's why we've been tied for second place. we'll do well there and be on to south carolina. i look forward to a win tonight. >> you guys were in the news for something self-inflicted, like an old trick in politics. mailed out on a postcard,

accusing people of some form of voting violations. saying you've been voting for the wrong people in the past. what's your position on that and did the campaign issue a full apology or one of the iowa things? >> iowa voters are used to getting a similar mailer. in fact, in 2014, they sent one out and everyone on the republican ticket benefitted from that. including everyone, i mean, all the republicans up and down the ticket. we modelled our own after that. marco rubio sent a similar one out there after he condemned us for it but we use persuasion to vote. i was there two days ago and if he were to caucus for ted cruz he said no. i poured on the guilt. said, this is your duty. don't let the country go down. get to the caucus and by the end, i had convinced him. i used old fashion peer pressure

and guilt and he had a duty to vote. we want people who wouldn't vote to vote. >> it's good news for uber and the anecdotal stories from iowa this cycle. uber rides, thank you for being with us. as we wish all the campaigns tonig tonight. another break for us. our live coverage continues right after this. >> i feel very good. we worked so hard and certainly in the last few weeks, ted cruz has 10,000 volunteers. and all of these endorsements. he's got glenn beck and the guys from "duck dynasty." he's the front-runner. he's got a lot of support here in terms of the campaign. but we feel really good about the work that we've done.

shuttle bay doors open... copy that... wow. it's a rogue. 3-2-1 ignition. we have liftoff. throttle up... landing complete. it's a rogue! the 2016 nissan rogue. the compact suv, with all the space you need.

and feeling good, sort of.n and real, and 500 calories or less. the clean pairings menu. at panera. food as it should be.

young people are really upset, especially as they are getting into the political scene and they're seeing a lot of the ways things are managed, they're not happy about it. >> it's important. i want to stand up for my candidate. >> you basically have to put your hand up in public and say, i am for this candidate. that's really something. that's just such hands-on public democracy. >> and it all starts tonight. these campaigns are hoping for young people to come out. they are hoping for first time caucusers and they're hoping for the veterans. in some places, they will need to brave some rain. some ice. some snow flurries. blizzard watch blankets most the entire state of iowa on their way to caucus for the candidate of their choice. jacob soboroff is at the university of iowa where it looks like we have one guy shooting hoops, but if you can imagine it later this evening,

it's going to be a caucus location. jacob? >> reporter: 100%, brian. as you said, it would be normally an excellent place to shoot hoops. i want to give credit to this guy as well. this place will be transformed into hopefully or at least they hope a vibrant center of american democracy. this is the university of iowa field house. it's the democratic caucus location, that meaning we'll hear pitches from a caucus chair and party representatives and voters are literally going to break into preference groups. hillary clinton, bernie sanders, martin o'malley and find out how much are in the caucus location. thousands of potential caucus goers at the university of iowa campus. i talked to some of them a few minutes ago. take a look.

a lot of people are feeling the bern now. we talked to marco rubio supporters, cruz supporters and surprisingly, no hillary clinton supporters at the moment. we expect to see a fair amount here. between 160 and 230 people could show up at this location and six precinct level delegates to be awarded here. back to you. >> jacob, thanks. surprise on the two guys shooting hoops on a cold day, otherwise beautiful field house university of iowa. we'll see what happens later there tonight when it's used for something else entirely. we now want to bring in chris hays and robert costa. of course, msnbc's own, as is robert costa but we share him from time to time with "the washington post." let's talk mostly about others who are feeling the bern, the sanders campaign. chris, specifically, your conversation with him yesterday

on the bus. when a lot of us thought we saw a continuation of this kind of new sanders, a little tougher, harder edge. >> yeah. i mean, i think they're sharpening their message, frankly and understand this is a campaign within grasp for them. in a way, four or five months ago, when they were 40 or 50 points behind, no one thought they would be. i also talked to him a little bit about the fact he is now facing a democratic party that he has an awkward relationship with to a certain extent. he never identified as a democrat for most of his career in congress and this is fundamentally a party exercise. he's the party nominee and i asked him, what kind of leader he would be of the democratic party. this is what he said. >> if elected president, i would be very honest with you. go about making major changes in a way the democratic party does business. it's insane to me and my fellow

colleague, how can you ignore a 50 state strategy? i think we need a 50 state strategy and i believe we have to make sure we're getting our funds from working people and middle class people, small donations rather than being dependent on large donations and super pacs. those are some of the changes i would make. >> reporter: he mentioned fund raising. they have absolutely set new records and kind of plowed the field in terms of small dollar fund raising. they raise $20 million just in the month of january. they have raised more small dollar donations than any campaign ever. what that means for the sanders campaign is that their candidate doesn't really have to spend any time fund raising. he's done three or four events a day. on the road constantly.

he's emphaticable and doesn't have to do high dollar fund raising to keep the money coming in because they built the incredible machine of small dollar fundraisers that keeps the money flowing in, and also builds the campaign that, whatever happens tonight can stretch pretty deep, at least from the sort of infrastructure standpoint to stretch pretty deep into the primary season. >> and robert costa, to continue the basketball conversation, sanders moves on now to a neighboring state primary where it's considered a lay-up and it's also considered in the business, a cost saver. >> brian, what tonight is, is the start of a long race, to maybe transition to baseball. it's the first inning or basketball, the first quarter. if it's tight here for the democrats in iowa, sanders has a very favorable terrain in new hampshire. clinton's ahead in south carolina. you're starting a pro tracted primary battle. this is not over early. >> the pros in politics, all get

frustrated at this conversation, where especially sanders and trump are concerned. because they have compared it to dating freshman year in college where the stakes don't seem that high and then they complain about electability a lot are professionals going their way. >> it's a test for the party establishment in both parties. in the year of the outsider and populism, will electability creep up at this 11th hour and convince voters to move toward clinton on the left or to the establishment candidate, someone else on the right in the crowd of republican fields? that's the open question. for months, sanders and trump had the momentum of the year and now approaching the vote and voters have to make a decision, have to maybe factor in electability. >> robert costa, of course, our own chris hayes, fresh from his interesting conversation with bernie sanders yesterday.

gentlemen, we'll talk to you both along the way and on into the night from des moines, iowa. another break for us. our coverage continues right after this. >> we have come a long, long way in the last nine months. and my guess is today, there was a poll allowed that had us a little bit ahead. the poll had secretary clinton a little bit ahead. it's a tie ball game, that's where we are but what every poll tells us and what every political pundit understands is the following. we will win tonight if the voter turnout is high. wish your skin could bounce back as quickly as it used to? neutrogena hydro boost water gel instantly quenches skin to keep it supple and hydrated day after day. formulated with hydrating hyaluronic acid which retains up to 1000 times its weight in water this refreshing water gel plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in.

for supple, hydrated skin that bounces back. hydro boost. from neutrogena whose long dayis sheldon setting up the news starts with minor arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax constipated? use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief they don't want candidates ripping apart other candidates. they want to know how you'll improve the lives of the middle class. i think not doing ugly negative ads is the right thing to do and

i think it's good politics. >> bernie sanders. front step of the campaign bus. by the way, this was talked about briefly on "meet the press" yesterday. sanders has become the latest to be given secret service protection. always an interesting thing that happens to a campaign, especially one that prided itself in being kind of a lean and mean field operation. that bus, for example, suddenly becomes the protective domain of the secret service. so bernie sanders, again, the latest candidate to get it. we're going to talk about the sanders campaign here. with someone who used to support hillary clinton and now is a sanders supporter. someone who used to be a member of the iowa state senate and more than that, was minority whip. and that is former state senator nina turner. senator, let's go right to the kind of elemental question and that is, the ability to get

something done. let's say your guy wins in the iowa caucuses. and let's say everyone wakes up the next day and says, wait a minute. this is a socialist who caucuses with the democrats in washington. our anger, after all, fueled because our politics are broken and nothing gets done. how is he ever going to get anything done? >> brian, the system is rigged. i 100% agree with senator sanders on that and what people crave for them is somebody to fight for them. the working class and the middle class is wanting somebody to focus in on them. that's what sanders has been doing all his life. to the point of your question, how to get something done. even if a democrat wins today or tomorrow, the house and the senate remains the same. it will be hard for any democrat to get anything done and that's why this is not just about the 2016 election but really about 2018 and for the next president of the united states to work very hard to make sure they have

tails so people running for the house of representatives and running for the senate so then we can get a senate and a house who can work with the next president of the united states of america. this is what this is about. so senator sanders has a reputation. he has a record of working across the aisle. that will not change. but fundamentally, no president can do it all by themselves. they need a team and it takes a teamwork to make the dream work. senator sanders say it's about us, and not about me. >> what's your quarrel about hillary clinton? what about her made you switch your allegiance to bernie sanders? >> there is no quarrel. the secretary is an accomplished public servant. this is not about her. we shouldn't make it about her. it's about the country and heart/soul agreement. when i juxtapositioned my life story with what senator bernie sanders is fighting for, increasing the minimum wage to $15, universal health care, free public college and university education, that spoke to me. i am a first generation college graduate and understand from a

personal place the power of education to change the trajectory of one's life. he has the heart/soul agreement and that's why i am supporting him. but make no mistakes, all of the democratic candidates are strong and much better than any republican running. >> let's go there on hillary clinton's perceived firewall in south carolina. because it looms after iowa. it looms after new hampshire. in your view, should she not be counting on that that strongly? >> i mean, no group should be taken for granted, brian. let's just cut to the chase. south carolina is about the african-american turnout and i find it quite insulting that african-americans, that people have already predicted how african-americans are going to to. that would be for any candidate. the african-american vote has to be earned. it is not owned by anyone. and that any ethnic group, any swenz shou constituency should not want to think they are pre-predicted. they should fight for the votes. firewall, no firewall. those votes have to be earned.

>> and you're so right about the business of politics. you've got to go out and ask for it and make sure case. everyone has to. nothing can get taken for grant granted. on that note, give me a prediction for tonight. >> i think senator sanders, him and the secretary are neck and neck. it's a dead heat. he's come from behind and made it a dead heat, but i am going to predict that senator sanders will take it tonight. >> former iowa state senator, nina turner, it's been a pleasure. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you, brian. >> all right, we'll take another break here. our msnbc coverage continues right after this. you both have a perfect driving record. perfect. no tickets. no accidents. that is until one of you clips a food truck, ruining your perfect record. yeah. now you would think your insurance company would cut you some slack, right? no. your insurance rates go through the roof... your perfect record doesn't get you anything. anything. perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light.

liberty mutual insurance. or if you're young or old.are if you run everyday, no matter who you are a heart attack can happen without warning. if you've had a heart attack, a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another one. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ to take care of my heart.s that's why i take meta. meta is clinically proven to help lower cholesterol. try meta today. and for a tasty

heart healthy snack, try a meta health bar.

we have two jobs here in our closing minutes. number one, we're going to talk about the weather in iowa which can be just as important as politics in iowa. number two, we're going to talk about local cuisine with, shall we say, a coworker of ours who is a cuisine veteran who normally regards his body as a holy temple.

first, our weather veteran at the board, david price. dave, we've been worried about this storm. iowa has been under a storm watch for at least 24 hours. consider the doors close at 8:00 eastern time at the caucus, what can you predict, what can you tell us? >> we'll see what the ground game is on getting people out in inclement weather. this is a storm that rolls in the top of the state, the bottom of the state gets off easy. but des moines, cedar rapids, davenport, all major population centers, all seeing something. sue ci sioux city, also one of the major population centers, will see snow. they will see wind across the state. as far as the next 48 hours, as far as des moines is particularly involved, we're probably going to see between three and eight inches of precipitation, heavier as you head to the north and the west, and again, the southeastern section of the state okay. the big storm stretches all the

way from nevada up to michigan. it's a powerful storm. the rain and the snow starts as we head through the caucus time, gets really rough overnight, brian. >> and i'm really worried about icing conditions. council bluffs, sioux city on that western edge. >> that's right. the conditions as you head in that western direction is going to be extreme. it will be interesting as the caucus ends and people try to depart, both crews and ground personnel from each campaign, whether they'll be able to get o out as far as folks from des moines and east to sioux city. >> you guys will be important as we go into the evening as far as the caucus tonight. now we go to correspondent kevin tibbles. if you get in a car in des moines and drive about an hour south, you end up in indianola. although nobody would choose

what he's doing. i'm talking about what he's eating and what he's drinking. kevin, take it from there. >> well, brian, this is not a glass of antifreeze. they call it a green river in these parts, and apparently it's a lime phosphate. i had to ask what that was, too. a lot of people are playing cards close to their chest. a lot of people aren't saying what they're going for tonight. but they did have one interesting question for me. >> well, i was just wondering when you were all going home. it isn't because i want you to go, i was concerned about you because of the blizzard tomorrow. >> i think that's true iowa spirit. >> yes. >> i agree. >> as long as i don't get overly hungry. >> my daughter calls it midwest nice. >> reporter: yes, the midwest nice. they don't really want to run us out of town, brian, but they do want to know when we're going to get out of town.

do you know what this is? a walking taco, they call it here, at the corner sundry. a walking taco, you take dorito, you stick the lettuce and the meat inside, and apparently this is the number one item they sell here at the corner sundry in beautiful downtown indianola. brian, this could be a wild night. back to you. >> there is nothing wrong with that lunch whatsoever, and leave it to kevin tibbles to find the best cuisine and the best spot, and leave it to the nice people of iowa to say, we want to know when you're leaving town. our concern, of course, is for your own safety with the storm approaching. kevin, you sit down, set a spell and enjoy that meal. chris matthews is going to take over our coverage at the top of the hour. it has been a pleasure as it will be a pleasure to take you on into the evening tonight. remember, the doors close on the iowa caucuses 8:00 p.m. eastern

time. before and well after that, we will have our team coverage everyone, everything in all eight counties of iowa will be covered. chris matthews takes you next hour. ♪ the bold nissan rogue, with intuitive all wheel drive. because winter needs a hero. now get a $199 per month lease on the 2016 nissan rogue. nissan. innovation that excites. this bale of hay cannot be controlled. when a wildfire raged through elkhorn ranch, the sudden loss of pasture became a serious problem for a family business. faced with horses that needed feeding and a texas drought that sent hay prices soaring, the owners had to act fast. thankfully, mary miller banks with chase for business.

and with greater financial clarity and a relationship built for the unexpected, she could control her cash flow, and keep the ranch running. chase for business. so you can own it. chase for business. ♪ chase for business. everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox.

as we age, certain nutrients longer than ever. become especially important. from the makers of one a day fifty-plus. one a day proactive sixty-five plus. with high potency vitamin b12 and more vitamin d. good day from iowa. chris matthews out of java joes in the great city of des moines which is the political capital of iowa. we are just minutes away from the iowa caucuses. this hour msnbc the final push for the top two republicans in the field. ted cruz is about to hold a rally in jefferson, his 99th county visit. later this hour,